Edna Pontellier's Self-Transformation In The Awakening

One Woman’s Self-Transformation

Edna Pontellier’s suicide is viewed as both a willful act to overcome society’s confining expectations, and as a weak resort to escape her fears of conforming to what a Creole woman is. At the same time Brother Odd from Good reads states that “drowning oneself and leaving one's children without the guidance of their mother is a tragedy”, I disagree and say it is a triumph. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, a distant wife and mother, overcomes the oppressive nature of the Creole society through her heroic journey of self- transformation.

In her “ordinary world”, Edna Pontellier is not aware of the world she was put in and does not know how to deal with her growing situation. When Leonce, her husband, sees

that Edna is sunburnt from being exposed to the sun all day, he looks “…at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which had suffered some damage” (44). He treats his wife as a possession, and not as a person. Edna does not feel the love from her marriage, which is a factor for her physical and emotional sexual awakenings later in her journey because she then searches for happiness. Buddha state that “life is suffering”. Everyone has to live life with grief, or joy would not exist. Edna must deal with her loveless marriage to find what really makes her happy. When she married Leonce, Edna was forced to become a part of the Creole society, “Mrs. Pontellier, though she had married a Creole, was not thoroughly at home in the society of Creoles” (52). Though Edna is married to a Creole man, whom fully adopts and conforms to the traditions, she does not accept nor try to change to fit in with society. This oppresses Edna to her limit, on which she acts on along with her awakening. Edna also does not know how to treat her family the way Creole women are supposed to. When Leonce finds out Edna did not take care of their children when they were sick, “he reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” (48). Leonce is furious and believes it is a woman’s job to devote her life to taking care of her children. Seeing Edna’s indifference to their son’s health makes Leonce wonder if Edna is really fit for a mother. This portrays how society views the role of women. She does not adopt the standards that a Creole woman is supposed to meet to be a caring, loving wife. The scorn that Leonce gives Edna about her indifference also leads to her unhappiness. After she argues with Leonce about their son’s untreated fever, “An indescribably oppression, which seemed to generate... filled her whole being with a vague anguish… It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood” (49). This feeling is forced onto her. Leonce’s insensitivity of her situation causes her to cry. Edna does not know how to handle the pain and pressure that society brings upon her, encouraging her act of sacrifice.
Edna has a taste of freedom and dignity after crossing the first threshold. Edna tries to go against society and challenges the standard of Creole women instead of becoming another shadow of women in a society dominated by male figures. 123HelpMe.com says that “Edna was the only woman to have the courage and the determination to go on the road less traveled”. This encourages her to go further in depth to find what she is searching for – freedom from the pressure and expectations society has clasped on her. Also, Edna abandons all her obligations and rebels against her standards of a Creole woman. When Leonce tells Edna she should come inside the house, she responds, “’Don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you” (78). Edna because she speaks up for herself and what she wants to go against her husband. She is not afraid to go against society’s belief of a woman obeying her husband. Edna no longer takes orders from her husband and evolves into an independent woman. Edna “began to do as she liked and to feel as she liked. She completely abandoned her Tuesdays at home… She made no ineffectual efforts to conduct her household... going and coming as it suited her fancy...” (107). These are the first signs of her self-transformation. She voluntarily forgets about her duties as a Creole wife and mother. Edna starts to develop a self-realization of what she desires in life. She goes out on Tuesdays, the days she is supposed to stay home and answer business calls for Leonce and takes a stand for herself. An action that demonstrates her physical and sexual awakening is when Edna has an affair with Alcee Robin. Edna harbors no shame or regrets for she is not in love with Leonce. She grows “increasingly sexual, also becoming aware of her sexuality” (Bird). Edna kisses Alcee, “it was the first kiss of her life to which her nature had really responded. It was a flaming torch that kindled desire” (139). While having an affair with Alcee, she is in love with another man, Robert. When Robert leaves for a business trip, Edna expresses the emptiness she feels, “Robert’s going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything” (95). This shows how distant she has become due to her marriage and of society’s rules. A Creole woman is supposed to dedicate her life to her husband and family. She is promiscuous; she has three men in her life, but only wants to be with one of them. Confucius says that “life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Though Edna is in an awkward place in her relationship, she creates a bigger problem by having additional relationships. She is still constrained by Leonce, has an affair with Alcee, but is in love with Robert, whom has been absent through most of her transformation. This makes Edna’s current situation with being oppressed by society, even more complex.
Edna’s tests, allies, and enemies throughout her journey of freeing herself from the constraining values of her time help her development of self-awakening and realization. Society oppresses Edna to test her self-control and conformability to what was desired at the time. When she swims in the ocean, she tested her limits, “the water was deep… She did not look back now, but went on and on…” (176). Edna overcomes this domestic treatment by committing suicide as an attempt to battle and prevent herself from conforming into everyone’s expectations as a Creole woman, mother, and wife. She will not tolerate society’s restrictions, and will give herself up in order to be free. Confucius believes that when people are “faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.” Edna does not want to let social pressures win. She knows she must have the courage to overcome what is put in front of her by sacrificing herself to be victorious. Edna has a friend, who understands her situation of being constrained by ideals, Madame Reisz. Reisz emotionally wakes up Edna. Edna cries, but and is confused about her feelings when she listens to Reisz play “Solitude”. This feeling Edna has opened up her inner-self and she realizes what is there and what wasn’t. She tells her what it takes to be free from society’s chains, “‘‘the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings’’” (138). Reisz gives Edna strength to do what no other woman has done before. Throughout her whole journey, Edna has had to struggle with society’s idealisms. She is awakened by the Creole community. Knowing what is expected of her only causes Edna to revolve her life away from those standards. Reisz helps Edna to overcome social pressures the Creole culture puts on her.
Edna’s approach when abandoning her duties does not give her the satisfaction she wants. She moves into the little pigeon house around the block, “Edna hastened her preparations for quitting her home on Esplanade Street and moving into the little house…There was no moment of deliberation, no interval of repose between the thought and its fulfillment” (139). Edna now lives independently, not under anyone’s rules but her own. Back then, southern cultures viewed the abandoning of one’s family to chase after one’s happiness was selfish and humiliating. No Creole woman abandons her family and duties to live on her own. Edna has finally gathered enough strength to walk away from something that kept her confined. According to Confucius, “when it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” Edna did not find enough happiness from going out on reception days and her affairs. She wanted to feel completely alone in order to experience freedom. Changing her situation helped her realize how to achieve what she desired. To get things done the way she wanted, she would have to depend on herself.
Edna’s “reward” is freedom from oppression and her establishment of who she is with dignity. She expresses her taste of freedom from society for the first time “… as she snuggled comfortably beneath the eiderdown a sense of restfulness invaded her, such as she had not known before” (127). Edna finally feels the oppression lifted off her chest. This is the first time she openly expresses the peacefulness she feels inside. She breaks free from the overwhelming ideals of society. She can finally enjoy her life independent from the standards that the Creole people expect to meet her as a woman. Also, Edna admits how she sees herself, who she is, and what she is not, “’I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose’” (167). Edna finally has the courage to present herself to the world as who she wants them to see her as. Sacrificing herself in the ocean forever unchains her from the domestic nature of the Creole society. “… For the first time in her life she stood naked in the open air… she felt like some new-born creature… She did not look back no… believing that it had no beginning and no end…” (175-176). Her resistance to conform has come to an end. She can now peacefully drift away from the corruption Creole society brings into families and individuals. She commits suicide in the ocean and lets the sea consume her. Edna gives herself up in order to escape from the oppressive state of the world she lives in. When she is in the water she thinks about what happened the first time she swam – fear overcame her. This presses her to keep swimming to fight against the fear of conformity. Buddha claims that “what we think, we become.” Edna wanted to be free from the pressure of her community, that she created that freedom for herself. She carefully plans out her road to success, and completes it.
Edna makes a stand for all women in her time and applies it to all those who are oppressed or pressured to conform by showing how powerful the standards of a society can be, and the detrimental effects on individuals.

It causes Edna to sacrifice herself in order to be uncorrupted and forced to change to be a typical Creole woman. She gives out in the ocean, “exhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her…it was too late; the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone” (177). Edna is an example of a woman who tries to discover herself in a world where it was wrong to. 123HelpMe.com states that in the Creole society, “There was no room for free thinking women. She had two choices these being either to live her whole life in misery and hide her spirit and soul”. Edna had no choice but to sacrifice herself. She pushes her limits, and commits suicide in order to be free from the oppressive nature of her environment. The life she lived was one she knew she would not be able to fulfill her wants and needs in. Buddha believes that “to conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.” Edna needs to overcome her fear of going where no woman has gone in order to overcome society’s constraints. She finally has the courage to give herself up to break free from the chains the Creole Society has clasped onto

her.
In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, a distant wife and mother, refuses to succumb to the oppressive, domestic, and the confining nature of the Creole society through her sexual, emotional and self- transformation, ultimately ending her life in order to resist conforming to the expectations of what a Creole woman is. Edna has developed from an unfulfilled and unhappy woman to an independent woman who knows what she is living for. Others may argue her death was a retreat from dealing with her problems, but I believe that her actions were signs of strength and her only way of overcoming her fear of conforming to the Creole society.